Sunday, July 20, 2014

Boardercross (SBX) and Skicross (SX) are not like NASCAR

No
matter how many TV ‘talking heads’, newspaper/magazine articles, or random
chairlift conversations make mention of it, Boarder/Skicross is not like NASCAR.This comparison is inaccurate and using the
reference as a talking point demonstrates a limited understanding of our sports
and shows a complete lack of any research done before one assumes their role as
‘expert commentator’.

Ever See This in a NASCAR Race?

One
might argue that the two sports are alike in that they both are races, sometimes
have crashes/collisions during the events and there’s a lot of sponsor logos
floating around on equipment.This is a
flimsy line of reasoning as most motorsports are races, have occasional crashes
and almost all gear is covered with lots of sponsor logos. Not nearly enough unique similarities to
declare an official ‘match’.

NASCAR
racing is generally tested on semi-elliptical shaped tracks (though they are
termed ovals, tri-ovals or quad-ovals) over a smooth surface, with banked
turns.All oval racing goes
counter-clockwise, which means all left turns.Races begin with a rolling start.Cars never get in the air (on purpose).

Did Someone Say Sponsor Logo's?

SBX/SX competitions are on courses with multiple left and right banked turns of
varying size and radius along with unique man-made obstacles including, but not
limited to: rollers, whoops, jumps, tables, step-down’s and other creative
features, especially in the start sections.Races begin with a start gate drop and competitors can experience significant air-time over some features.

Not
so similar, eh?

Drop Gate Start

There
are a few motorsports (and a non motor-sport) that are almost identical to our
competitions and would be a truer analogy to use when trying to describe the
action one would experience watching SBX/SX races.

-Competition
progresses through several ‘heats’ to get to the Big Final

-Tons
of sponsor logos and some crashes

-Some
significant air-time over features

Clearly the
best 2 comparisons are BMX and Moto/Supercross with the SC Off-Road Racing
coming in second. NASCAR is not even close.On a side note, when
checking out SC Off-Road Racing videos I was reminded of spending many hours in the arcade playing this video game as a kid.